Wing-like needle protector

ABSTRACT

There is here provided a wing-like needle protector which can surely prevent mistaken sticking, and can safely cap a hollow needle. The wing-like needle protector for housing a wing-like needle  1  which comprises a hollow needle  2 , a holding cylinder  3  for holding a rear end of the hollow needle  2 , and a pair of wing pieces  4, 4  formed integrally with the holding cylinder  3  so as to freely coalesce with each other. The protector comprises a gutter-shaped member  7  for housing the hollow needle  2 , the holding cylinder  3  and the coalesced wing pieces  4, 4 , and a gripper  8  protruded outward from a bottom surface of the gutter-shaped member  7 . The gutter-shaped member  7  has a closed tip  9   a  of a portion  9  for housing the hollow needle  2 , an opened rear end  10   a  of a portion  10  for housing the holding cylinder  3 , and a narrowed area  7   a  where the holding cylinder  3  is fitted in a bottom portion, and the holding cylinder  3  is engaged with the narrowed area  7   a . The narrowed area  7   a  may be partially provided on the bottom portion of the gutter-shaped member  7 . The wing pieces  4, 4  of the gutter-shaped member  7  may be housed in and engaged with a portion  11  for housing the wing pieces  4, 4.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a protector for a wing-like needle usedfor insulin intramuscular injection.

BACKGROUND ART

As a needle used for medical practice such as insulin intramuscularinjection, a wing-like needle has been known, which is provided with ahollow needle, and a pair of wing pieces formed integrally with aholding cylinder for holding a rear end of the hollow needle. Theholding cylinder and the wing-like needle are made of soft resins, forexample plasticized polyvinyl chloride.

In the case of using the wing-like needle, a medical practitioner suchas a doctor or a nurse first removes a protector capping the hollowneedle, mutually coalesces and holds the pair of wing pieces made of thesoft resins, and then sticks the hollow needle into a muscle of anabdomen or the like of a patient. Then, the practitioner opens the pairof wing pieces left and right of the holding cylinder, and fastens themto the abdomen or the like of the patient by adhesive tape, therebysecuring the hollow needle during the intramuscular injection.

After the end of the intramuscular injection, the wing-like needle isremoved from the body of the patient, and discarded. However, if thehollow needle is exposed in this case, the medical practitioner or aperson who discards the needle may stick the hollow needle into hisfinger or the like by mistake (simply referred to as mistaken sticking,hereinafter). Here, if the patient suffers from infectious disease suchas HIV or acute hepatitis, the medical practitioner or the person whodiscards the needle is in danger of being infected with the diseasethrough the hollow needle.

Conventionally, therefore, in order to prevent the mistaken sticking,the used hollow needle has been capped again with the protector removedbefore the use (recapping). The conventional protector is a hollowcylindrical body, which has a length equivalent to that of the hollowneedle. The recapping is carried out by bringing the protector and thehollow needle close to each other in an extended direction of the hollowneedle, and inserting the hollow needle from its tip into an opening endof the protector.

However, the protector is disadvantageous in that as fingers holding theprotector are positioned in a moving direction of the tip of the hollowneedle, the tip of the hollow needle may be mistakenly stuck into thefingers during the recapping.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a wing-like needleprotector, which can solve the foregoing disadvantage, surely preventmistaken sticking, and safely cap a hollow needle.

In order to achieve the foregoing object, the present invention ischaracterized by a wing-like needle protector for housing a wing-likeneedle which comprises a hollow needle, a holding cylinder for holding arear end of the hollow needle, and a pair of wing pieces formedintegrally with the holding cylinder so as to freely coalesce with eachother, wherein the protector comprises a gutter-shaped member includinga portion for housing the hollow needle, a portion for housing theholding cylinder a portion for housing the coalesced wing piecesextended upward of the portion for housing the holding cylinder, and agripper protruded outward from a bottom surface of the gutter-shapedmember; the gutter-shaped member has a closed tip of the portion forhousing the hollow needle, an opened rear end of the portion for housingthe holding cylinder, and a narrowed area where a space between sidewalls of the gutter-shaped member is narrow so as to fit the holdingcylinder in a bottom portion and the holding cylinder is engaged withthe narrowed area, and the housed wing pieces are repulsively engagedwith the portion for housing the wing pieces.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the hollowneedle and the holding cylinder of the wing-shape needle are housed inthe gutter-shaped member while the wing pieces coalesce with each other.Thus, a medical practitioner such as a doctor or a nurse can draw outthe wing-like needle from the protector by gripping the wing pieceshoused in the coalescing state, and directly use the wing-like needle.Therefore, the medical practitioner can omit an operation of coalescingthe pair of opened-out wing pieces for use.

For reattachment of the protector removed before the use to the usedwing-like needle, the wing-like needle is gripped by one hand while thewing pieces coalesce with each other, and the gripper of the protectoris gripped by the other hang. Then, by bringing the wing-like needle andthe protector close to each other, the wing-like needle is housed in thegutter-shaped member. In this case, since the gripper of the protectoris formed to be protruded outward from a bottom surface of thegutter-shaped member, the wing-like needle and the protector are movedin a direction intersecting an extended direction of the hollow needle.In such a case, fingers gripping the gripper of the protector are placedin positions shifted from an intended direction of a tip of the hollowneedle during movement, and positioned on a backside of thegutter-shaped member to be protected by the same. Thus, according to thepresent invention, it is possible to surely prevent mistaken sticking ofthe tip of the hollow needle.

In addition, in the gutter-shaped member, since the tip of the portionfor housing the hollow needle is closed, the tip of the hollow needlehoused in the gutter-shaped member as described above is not protruded.Further, since the gutter-shaped member includes the narrowed areaformed by narrowing the space between the side walls of thegutter-shaped member so as to be fitted in the bottom portion, when thewing-like needle is housed in the gutter-shaped member, the holdingcylinder is fitted to the narrowed area, and engaged.

In this case, the holding cylinder is made flexible by its engagementwith the narrowed area, applying a restoring force for return to anoriginal shape. Thus, the holding cylinder is repulsively engaged withthe narrowed area by the restoring force, making it possible to preventfalling-off of the wing-like needle from the gutter-shaped member.

In the wing-like protector of the present invention, the narrowed areaneeds not be provided on a full length of the bottom portion of thegutter-shaped member. If the narrowed area has a length, which providesan effect of preventing the falling-off of the wing-like needle from thegutter-shaped member, the narrowed area may be partially provided on thebottom portion of the gutter-shaped member.

In the wing-like needle, when the wing pieces are housed in thegutter-shaped member in a mutually coalescing state as described above,an opening-out force is applied. Thus, the wing pieces are repulsivelyengaged with the portion of the gutter-shaped member for housing thewing pieces by the opening-out force, making it possible to preventfalling-off of the wing-like needle from the gutter-shaped member.

When the wing-like needle is used for intramuscular injection of insulinor the like, the hollow needle is attached obliquely downward from thetip of the holding cylinder.

Thus, according to each aspect of the protector of the presentinvention, the gutter-shaped member is characterized in that the portionfor housing the hollow needle is provided inclined from the portion forhousing the holding cylinder toward the gripper. Therefore, since thegutter-shaped member is formed corresponding to shapes of the hollowneedle and the holding cylinder of the wing-like needle, it is possibleto attach the protector to the wing-like needle smoothly and easily.

Furthermore, according to each aspect of the protector of the presentinvention, the gripper is narrower than a width of the bottom surface ofthe gutter-shaped member. Thus, a step is formed between the gripper andthe gutter-shaped member, and fingers gripping the gripper are hiddenbehind the gutter-shaped member and protected by the step. Therefore, itis possible to prevent the mistaken sticking more surely.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a wing-like needleaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a wing-like needleprotector according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on a line III—III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a method of housing the wing-likeneedle in the wing-like needle protector shown in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5(a) to 5(b) are plan views of the wing-like needle protectorshown in FIG. 2.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Next, detailed description will be made of the preferred embodiments ofthe present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a wing-like needle 1 of an embodiment includes ahollow needle 2 having a sharp tip, a holding cylinder 3 for holding arear end of the hollow needle 2, a pair of wing pieces 4 and 4 formedintegrally with the holding cylinder 3 to be opened out, and a tube 5attached to a rear end of the holding cylinder 3 to introduce drugsolution into the hollow needle 2. The holding cylinder 3 and the wingpieces 4 and 4 are made of soft resins, for example, plasticizedpolyvinyl chloride (S-PVC), polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP).The wing pieces 4 and 4 are elastically deformed, and freely coalescewith each other. The wing-like needle 1 is used for intramuscularinjection of insulin or the like, and the hollow needle 2 is attachedobliquely downward from a tip of the holding cylinder 3.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, a protector 6 of an embodimentincludes a gutter-shaped member 7 for housing the hollow needle 2, theholding cylinder 3 and the coalesced wing pieces 4, and a gripper 8protruded outward from a bottom surface of the tub-shape member 7. Inthe gutter-shaped member 7, corresponding to the structure where thehollow needle 2 of the wing-shape needle 1 is attached obliquelydownward from the tip of the holding cylinder 3, a portion 9 for housingthe hollow needle 2 is inclined from a portion 10 for holding thecylinder 3 toward the gripper 8. A tip 9 a of the portion 9 for housingthe hollow needle 2 is closed to lock the hollow needle 2, therebypreventing its protrusion. A rear end 10 a of the portion 10 for housingthe holding cylinder 3 is opened to draw out the tube 5.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the gutter-shaped member 7 has a narrowedarea 7 a, in which a space between side walls of the gutter-shapedmember 7 is narrowed to fit the holding cylinder 3 in a bottom portion.The narrowed area 7 a is U-shaped in section, and formed to be slightlynarrower than an outer diameter of the holding cylinder 3. The holdingcylinder 3 that has been fitted to the narrowed area 7 a and madeflexible is repulsively engaged by a restoring force return to anoriginal shape, thereby preventing falling-off of the wing-like needle 1from the gutter-shaped member 7.

Further, above the portion 10 for housing the holding cylinder 3, aportion 11 is provided to house the wing pieces 4 and 4 are repulsivelyengaged with this portion 11 by their opening-out forces. The portion 11for housing the wing pieces 4 and 4 needs not have a size to cover theentire wing pieces 4 and 4, in order to grip the wing pieces by fingers.It needs to have only a size for the foregoing repulsive engagement withthe wing pieces 4 and 4 by the opening-out forces of the wing pieces 4and 4.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the gripper 8 is formed on thebackside center of the bottom surface of the gutter-shaped member 7 tobe narrow than the bottom surface. A step 8 a is formed between thegripper 8 and the gutter-shaped member 7. Thus, the fingers gripping thegripper 8 are hidden behind the gutter-shaped member 7, and protected.

Preferably, the protector 6 of the embodiment is made of a hard resin,e.g., polypropylene (PP), acrylic nitrile butadiene-styrene copolymerresin (ABS) or polystyrene (PS), alternatively a semi-hard resin. As theprotector 6 is made of such a resin, the narrowed area 7 can maintainthe engagement with the holding cylinder 3 against the restoring forceof the holding cylinder 3, or the portion 11 for housing the wing pieces4 and 4 can maintain the engagement with wing pieces 4 and 4 against thetheir opening-out forces. Moreover, being made of the resin, theprotector 6 can counter an external force when packaged. Not onlyblister packaging but also peel-open packaging are allowed.

According to the protector 6 of the embodiment, first, for use, in astate shown in FIG. 2, the wing pieces 4 and 4 exposed from theprotector 6 are gripped by one hand, and the gripper 8 of the protector6 is gripped by the other hand. Then, by moving these portions indirections away from each other, the wing-like needle 1 is drawn outfrom the protector 6. At this time, since the wing pieces 4 and 4 havecoalesced with each other, the wing-like needle 1 can be put toimmediate use after it is drawing out from the protector 6.

For reattachment of the protector 6 removed before the use to thewing-like needle 1 (recapping), the wing pieces 4 and 4 are gripped byone hand, and the gripper 8 of the protector 6 is gripped by the otherhand. Then, as indicated by arrows in FIG. 3, the wing-like needle 1 andthe protector 6 are moved such that the hollow needle 2 and the holdingcylinder 3 are placed along an opening of the gutter-shaped member 7. Inthis case, since the wing-like needle 1 is moved in a directionintersecting an extended direction of the hollow needle 2, the fingersgripping the gripper 8 of the protector 6 are placed in positionsshifted from an intended direction of the tip of the hollow needle 2. Inaddition, since the fingers gripping the gripper 8 are hidden behind thegutter-shaped member 7 by the step 8 a as described above, they areprotected from the wing-like needle 1 approaching the protector 6 by thegutter-shaped member 7.

Thus, according to the protector 6, it is possible to surely preventmistaken sticking of the tip of the hollow needle 2 into the fingersgripping the gripper 8. Moreover, according to the protector 6, theholding cylinder 3 is repulsively engaged with the narrowed area 7 a,and the wing pieces 4 and 4 are repulsively engaged with the portion 11for housing the wing pieces 4 and 4. Thus, it is possible to surelyprevent falling-off of the wing-like needle 1 that has been housed.

In the embodiment, the holding cylinder 3 is repulsively engaged withthe narrowed area 7 a, and the wing pieces 4 and 4 are repulsivelyengaged with the portion 11 for housing the wing pieces 4 and 4.However, a constitution may be employed, where only the narrowed area 7a repulsively engaged by the holding cylinder 3 is provided, the portion11 for housing the wing pieces 4 and 4 is enlarged in width, and thewing pieces 4 and 4 are not repulsively engaged with this portion 11. Asdescribed above, when the portion 11 for housing the wing pieces 4 and 4is enlarged in width, the holding cylinder 3 can be easily inserted byusing this portion 11 as a guide for the holding cylinder 3.

As a constitution where the wing pieces 4 and 4 are repulsively engagedwith the portion 11, the narrowed area 7 a repulsively engaged by theholding cylinder 3 may not be provided.

In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5(a), the narrowed area 7 a isprovided on a full length of the bottom surface of the gutter-shapedmember 7. However, the narrowed area 7 a only needs to have a length,which provides an effect of maintaining the engagement with the holdingcylinder 3, and prevents falling-off of the wing-like needle 1. It maybe provided partially on the bottom portion of the gutter-shaped member7. If the narrowed area 7 a is partially provided on the bottom portionof the gutter-shaped member 7, it may be provided in only one place onthe bottom portion of the gutter-shaped member 7 as shown in FIG. 5(b).Alternatively, narrowed areas 7 a may be provided in a plurality ofplaces as shown in FIG. 5(c).

If the narrowed area 7 a is provided partially on the bottom portion ofthe gutter-shaped member 7, the narrowed area 7 a may be formed by, forexample providing a pair of protruded portions oppositely to each other,which are formed by protruding parts of side walls of the gutter-shapedmember 7 inward.

Furthermore, the embodiment has been described with reference to thewing-shape needle 1, where the hollow needle 2 is attached obliquelydownward from the tip of the holding cylinder 3 for use in intramuscularinjection of insulin or the like. However, the wing-like needle 1 may beconstructed in such a manner that the hollow needle 2 is horizontallyattached to the tip of the holding cylinder 3. In this case, theprotector 6 is formed in such a manner that the portion 9 for housingthe hollow needle 2 is formed horizontally to the portion 10 for housingthe holding cylinder 3.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention can be used for the wing-like needle as a medicalinstrument or the like.

1. A wing-like needle protector in combination with a wing-like needlewhich comprises a hollow needle, a holding cylinder for holding a rearend of the hollow needle, and a pair of wing pieces formed integrallywith the holding cylinder so as to freely coalesce with each other,comprising: a gutter-shaped member including a portion for housing thehollow needle a portion for housing the holding cylinder and a portionfor housing the coalesced wing pieces extending upwardly of the portionfor housing the holding cylinder with the coalesced wing pieces beingrepulsively engaged with the portion for housing the coalesced wingpieces and protruding upwardly from an upper end of the gutter-shapedmember; and a gripper projecting outwardly from a bottom surface of thegutter-shaped member; wherein the gutter-shaped member has a closed tipof the portion for housing the hollow needle, an opened rear end of theportion for housing the holding cylinder, and a narrowed area where aspace between side walls of the gutter-shaped member is narrow so as tofit the holding cylinder in a bottom portion with the holding cylinderbeing engaged with the narrowed area.
 2. The wing-like needle protectorin combination with a wing-like needle according to claim 1, wherein thenarrowed area is partially provided on the bottom portion of thegutter-shaped member.
 3. The wing-like needle protector in combinationwith a wing-like needle according to claim 1, wherein the portion forhousing the hollow needle is inclined from the portion for housing theholding cylinder toward the gripper.
 4. The wing-like needle protectorin combination with a wing-like needle according to claim 1, wherein awidth of the gripper is narrower than a width of the bottom surface ofthe gutter-shaped member.
 5. The wing-like needle protector incombination with a wing-like needle according to claim 2, wherein theportion for housing the hollow needle is inclined from the portion forhousing the holding cylinder toward the gripper.
 6. The wing-like needleprotector in combination with a wing-like needle according to claim 2,wherein a width of the gripper is narrower than a width of the bottomsurface of the gutter-shaped member.
 7. The wing-like needle protectorin combination with a wing-like needle according to claim 3, wherein awidth of the gripper is narrower than a width of the bottom surface ofthe gutter-shaped member.